Janet Whitson

Janet Whitson

Associate Professor of Biology

Department of Natural Science

Profile

Janet S. Whitson has taught at Concordia since 2003. She brought a broad background in education to Concordia. She has taught elementary school science, has spent time in administration and teaching at the high school level, and served as an assistant professor in the Neurosurgery Department of the University of Texas medical school in Houston. Since coming to Concordia, Dr. Whitson has initiated a program of student research, giving Concordia’s interested undergraduates the opportunity to participate in a long-term research effort and the chance to learn research techniques like microdissection and neuronal cell culture which would not normally be available in an undergraduate curriculum. Dr. Whitson is a member of the National Science Teachers Association, the Society for Neuroscience, the Nebraska Academy of Sciences, and the International Society to Advance Alzheimer Research and Treatment (ISTAART).

Education

Post-doctoral training, Baylor School of Medicine, Houston, Texas
Ph.D., University of California at Irvine
B.S., Concordia Teacher’s College, Illinois

Courses taught

General Biology 1, Introductory Embryology, Modern Techniques in Genetics and Molecular Biology, Biology of the Brain, Research in Biology, Primary Literature in Biology, and Biochemistry Lab

Other

Dr. Whitson’s research interests include Alzheimer’s disease (specifically the beta-amyloid protein), traumatic brain injury, and ischemia. Her favorite brain part is the hippocampus, and all of her research has been focused on this area. At the high school level, she was three times nominated by former students to Who’s Who in Teaching and won awards at the University of California for both teaching and research.